My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen

Prepare to Revisit Your Own Dog-Friend Memories

Walking around on ice always has its risks. When working alone around beaver ponds Gary Paulsen was setting up a set of snares. The dog team was taking advantage of this time to rest as he unloaded his gear. It’s never wise to be out in back country alone, especially in areas this as remote as these beaver ponds. Tragedy almost happened; one that would have prevented millions of children from reading his books.

“…as I dropped I had time to yell—scream—and the last thing I saw as I went under was Cookie’s head swinging up from sleeping and her eyes locking on mine as I went beneath the surface.” When Gary Paulsen dropped through the ice he grabbed the rope that was attached to the sled and the dog team. He clutched it and Cookie, his lead sled dog, responded immediately. When she saw him drop through the ice she quickly assessed the situation and made their dog team rise from their rest and pull him from the icy water. Paulsen dedicates this book about the dogs in his life to Cookie, his very alert lead dog. He owed his life to her.

The exciting introduction to his book, My Life in Dog Years, leads into a collection of short, memorable, often heart-warming or bittersweet stories, about the dogs in is life. We, as dog lovers, often measure our lives through time spent with our dogs. Mine have shared the high and low moments of my life, getting me through sorrows but they also danced during the celebrations. They’ve traveled tens of thousands of miles with me exploring windy and cold high mountain peaks as well as narrow, hot and dry desert canyons. We’ve ducked to avoid and then watch a giant great horned owl swoop several feet above our flattened bodies and we’ve switched lead on an intimidating narrow bear-country trail. (The brave dog decided dad was alpha and opted to walk behind him in the role of back-up.)

Gary Paulsen’s familiar unpretentious and honest style of writing shares memories of eight dogs that he loved. While far from being his only dogs, these eight played significant roles in his life.  Through these stories we learn even more of his tough childhood and we can’t help but suspect that not only does he measure his life in dogs; his life was in formed, in part, by the character of these dogs.

My Life In Dog Years is about Snowball, the first dog; Ike who became a good friend; the protective Dirk, Rex the farm dog; Caesar the giant Dane; Fred and his Pig friend, and Quincy the wild dog of the Alaskan north. He begins with Cookie, a dog sister who was also his lead dog in his first Iditarod sled dog race and he finishes with Josh the smartest dog in the world. The story of Ceasar, the Great Dane, was so funny I had to read parts to my husband.

His border collie, Josh, the last in this collection was so smart that when he spoke to the dog it talked back and participated in the conversation. I’ve recently had the pleasure of meeting a Doberman pinscher who exceeded my expectations on intelligence and sweetness. Her humans told me this dog talks to them and I laughed at that. My yellow lab is smart and uses telepathy -- she sings occasionally, but doesn’t talk. Well, the dog proved me wrong and carried on numerous conversations in a very human way. I’ve no doubt that Josh also carried on these conversations with Paulsen.

Final Thoughts

This book was a joy to read. The intended audience was older elementary school readers but anyone who treasures their memories with special dogs will enjoy this easy-to-read collection of reminiscences. Although written in 1998 this remains as relevant today as when it was written. While it really is possible to tire from reading too many dog stories, My Life In Dog Years wants to be re-read.